French farce: UK-bound migrants board dinghy as gendarmes watch

People-smuggling gangs ­are exploiting a loophole in French law that prevents police from intervening once boats are in the water.

Migrants wait in the water off Gravelines, France, for a people-smuggling boat to arrive. Picture: AFP

As dawn broke over the dunes at Gravelines, northeast of Calais, ­officers from the Compagnies ­Republicaines de Securite, a ­special mobile French police force, were on the beach.

A surveillance plane circled, monitoring movement along the 3km stretch of beach and on the dune system behind it, which ­offers cover to smugglers and to asylum-seekers trying to get past police to board boats.

Officers fired a flare to disperse a group of migrants who had come on the beach, and began escorting people from the shore. The ­migrants’ intended boat appeared never to arrive.

People-smuggling gangs ­exploit a loophole in French law that prevents police from intervening once boats are in the water. Migrants are sometimes instructed to wade out to sea and wait for a boat there, climbing into it when it is already afloat, to stop police puncturing or seizing it.

Migrants run across the beach at Gravelines, France, in the hope of reaching a boat. Picture: AFP.

Others use small inland waterways to launch the boats out of sight of the police on the beaches, and migrants jump aboard once the boats have been piloted ­towards the shallows.

Although Bruno Retailleau, the French Interior Minister, said this year that the loophole would be closed, the change has yet to be made.

At British Home Office questions this month, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said that the French authorities were reviewing their tactics and would consider intervening in shallow water. At the end of last month, 14,812 people had already crossed the English Channel in a small boat this year to claim asylum in the UK.

This number is thought to have been boosted by a large number of “red days”, when flat seas, low wind and smooth weather allow several boats to make the crossing.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he will discuss the problem with President ­Emmanuel Macron of France at the G7 summit taking place in Canada.

Since Labour came to power, the number of asylum claims has risen despite its pledges to crack down on the risky crossings. Soon after the first group on Gravelines beach, more migrants made their way over the dunes.

A dinghy appeared offshore, pursued by a French search-and-rescue vessel, the Ridens. The French ship failed to intercept the dinghy, which eventually landed at the far end of the beach, a narrower and wetter section that was harder for vehicles to reach.

French police fired tear gas at some migrants from the first group trying to reach the vessel, but by the time officers had got to the second group of asylum-seekers, most had already entered the water.

Members of the Compagnies ­Republicaines de Securite, whose task it is to stop the illegal migrants. Picture: AFP

It was chaotic. One family group, two women and two children who had come from the first group, were prevented from entering the water. However, the dinghy departed, laden with more than 40 people and sitting low in the water.

A small Rib, piloted by two masked men with uniforms, followed the boat closely until the coastguard could take over monitoring its progress.

To cross the Channel by dinghy takes between three and six hours, but the vast majority of small boats are picked up by lifeboats or British Border Force vessels at sea.

Based on public vessel-tracking data, the ship Border Force Volunteer appeared to pick up at least one group at about 7am, and may have been involved in other rescues that morning.

Not all of those who had come to the beach made it aboard. Some, including a father and child, were left standing in the waves while police in riot gear watched.

THE TIMES